(excerpts)
“HD. QRTS., Jan. 20th, 1865.
“My dear Wigfall:
“Your message to me by Mr. Davis reached me a day or two ago. As I am about to start to S. C., I anticipate your letter by writing at once to you. It gave me great pleasure to see your return mentioned.
” . . . We are passing through a fiery ordeal but if we ‘quit ourselves like men’ we must be successful. I do not allow myself to contemplate any other than a successful issue to our struggle.
“I have given far more than all my property to this cause, and I am ready to give all. Genl. Lee thinks that I may be of some service in South Carolina and I go to see what I can do there… I am going to fight for my State and I am willing to fight anywhere. The record of the cavalry which has fought under my command, is that this campaign has been an honorable one, and I take great pride in it. They have been successful in every fight—not a few—have captured large supplies of arms and taken not less than 10,000 prisoners. So I leave the record good…. What will be done with the Army of Tennessee? You know how highly I regard Hood, how much I esteem him. but it was a mistake to remove Johnston. The army had perfect confidence in him and I am convinced that they will not fight as well under anyone else as under him; therefore do I regard his removal as a national calamity. And if the President would reinstate him it would not only restore public confidence, but would strengthen the President greatly. I wish, my dear Wigfall, that you would forget the differences of the past and try to re-establish the intimate relations that once existed between Mr. Davis and yourself. You can aid him greatly and you can serve the country by giving him counsel…. I wish that I could have seen you before leaving this State, as there is much I want to talk to you about. But I hope to meet you in brighter times when my heart is not so oppressed by public and private anxieties. . . . But I bate not one jot or tittle of our claims and I shall fight as long as I can wield my sabre. I hope your family are well. Give my kindest regards to them and believe me to be,
“Very sincerely, your friend,
“WADE HAMPTON.
“Hon. L. T. Wigfall,
“Write to Columbia.”